The Echo of a False Hero

Elias opened his eyes, looking around. His gaze widened as he turned towards the sky, where the night's sky glowed with a verdant green hue. He looked down and saw he was on a cliff, overlooking the ocean. Turning, Elias' face fell as he saw the village he had once called home. 

Why was he here? Did he die?

Elias turned back towards the village, then saw a man staring up at the sky.

"They call them the northern lights," his father spoke before looking at Elias. Elias looked down, realizing that his sigil was present in the dream.

"Are you… real?" Elias asked, his words stuck in his throat.

His father continued to watch the lights before sighing. 

"No, son. I died a long, long time ago." Elias heard a commotion behind him, as he looked back to see the village burning. 

"Then why are you here now?" Elias could barely get the words out. "I forgot. I've forgotten—what do I do? I have so many questions."

"You've taken a step into the void. You've become a voidbearer, and your soul is closer to the void." His father's voice echoed, still facing away. "You've taken a step into the void because of me…" He looked down. "Some questions will be answered in time. I have limited power to speak to you right now, but all I can say is that the sigil I gave you is—"

Elias jolted awake, shouting. 

"Fuck!" Anger flooded his body as he clicked his tongue. 

And that's when Elias felt it. Like ice flooding his veins, like molten gold searing into his bones. A pulse, slow and deliberate, rippled through his body. The Voidshard had sunk in, entwining with his very essence, a piece of something far greater now nestled deep within him. His breath hitched as a surge of power raced up his spine, every nerve alight, every muscle tensing as though his body tried to reject it—but it was too late. His heartbeat stuttered, then steadied, but it wasn't the same. Each thud in his chest resonated with something beyond flesh, something vast and unfathomable. His fingers twitched, his skin crawling with the sensation of something unseen slithering beneath the surface, weaving into his sinew, his thoughts.

The door creaked open, and Elias jolted like a wild animal toward the source of the sound. There stood Velyan. He quietly observed the boy before groaning and sitting in the chair opposite the bed.

"You're awake. How do you feel?" Velyan asked.

"Like shit," Elias muttered. His body was fully bandaged, and now something unnatural sat within him.

"It took me a while to get used to it as well," Velyan said. "We decided to transplant the Voidshard into your body while you were asleep. We didn't know how your body would react to it, and now, looking back, it was an excellent choice. Your sigil didn't work as effectively as a 'true' hero's did, and your body rejected the Voidshard at first before it helped the process." Velyan paused. "You should start feeling your powers soon. Your physical body has been quenched and refined by the void energy, meaning your recovery should be easier. Congrats on being a shardbearer now."

Elias groaned and closed his eyes to focus less on the unnatural feeling that had settled into his body.

"As my role as scribe, I need an explanation of the void creature you killed. Sometimes, void monsters can reappear, though their interpretation of whatever they take on can be different," Velyan explained.

Elias felt a migraine coming on and sighed.

"Can we do this later, elder?" 

"No. You'll see why," Velyan replied.

Elias groaned again.

"What was the name of the creature you killed?"

"Narcissus." Elias opened his eyes and looked at Velyan, who smiled.

"What does your power do?"

"It allows me to mimic people's abilities and techniques. There are other uses, but…" Elias glanced at his hands. "How do I know this?"

"I told you. When you entwine with a Voidshard, it becomes a part of you. Now that it's been transplanted, it feels like you and the Voidshard share the same body. When you use your powers more, you should achieve a synchronization like the 'digestion' I spoke of. That's when you know you're ready to move to the next stage. By provoking you with questions, you're unconsciously answering. After all, you know what your name is and what you look like, don't you?"

Elias nodded slightly.

"What are the weaknesses?"

Elias felt the words stick in his throat. 

"I don't know…"

Velyan sighed. 

"Pity. Should come to you soon. Perhaps I am being too hasty." He smiled warmly. "An interesting power, for sure. I wonder if your sigil has influenced it."

Elias nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on the foreign sensation. It felt like another heart inside his body.

"I'll leave you to it then," Velyan muttered, his back somewhat hunched from age. "I have work to do, and you need to recover to go see Kaela and her reverence."

Elias nodded as the old man slowly exited the room. His eyes drifted to his sigil, and he took a deep breath. Tears started to fall as his frustration over seeing his father, even for just a minute or two, weighed down on him.

He gave me this sigil? What does that mean?

Elias could feel something was different with it. The sigil's appearance seemed more complete than before. The faint lines that made it up were thicker, the ink-like substance more pronounced, with the eye becoming more fully formed. But the lines were still incomplete, a reminder that he had a long way to go on his journey. Slowly, Elias conjured a shadow dagger and whistled. It may have been due to the baptism of void energy, but the dagger looked much better than before. It was more condensed, the strange metal refined and polished. The edge seemed both sharp and thin, pulsing with strange energy. The hilt was wrapped in blackened leather that felt oddly warm. It was heavier than it looked, and the state it was in could hardly be called 'solid,' with wispy shadows around the edge dissolving and reforming.

Interesting.

Elias dismissed the dagger and summoned the bow he had copied from Narcissus in the rift. It was a weapon of elegance and power, crafted masterfully from ashwood. It was light and smooth but felt flexible and strong. Even the bowstring was in good condition. It was a little worn, showing that Elias' copying ability had improved but wasn't perfect. Still, it was usable for a prolonged time before breaking—unlike the one-time usage of weapons before the Voidshard.

The bow felt oddly familiar. Could it be the Voidshard within him?

Elias tested it out.

Spears, shields, swords, axes—everything felt more refined, though still worn. His sigil lasted much longer before its light faded, meaning he could conjure more things.

He was a voidbearer. He had sacrificed a lot to get here.

He breathed out slowly. He didn't feel the relief he had expected. If anything, the void coiled more tightly around his heart than ever before. But he knew the risks and had thrown the dice, even if it hadn't been entirely by his accord.

Elias gave a brief, rare smile before looking down at his body. 

He was going to recover and then test his abilities.